Betty Smith is an American author who wrote A Tree Grown In Brooklyn. This book can be a very useful tool for understanding the way of life in the early twentieth century and the stuggle that many people had to go through to survive.
Katie Rommely and Johnny Nolan married young and had hopes of a good life. When Francie was born not long after the wedding, Johnny lost both his job and Katie's job. Katie's mother, Mary, told her to educate her children in order to give them a chance in the cruel world. She told Katie to make a tin bank and save enough money to buy a plot of land. Katie was also to read one page of Shakespeare and one page of the Bible to the child every night. Mary believed that this would give them an opprotunity that neither she or Katie had by giving them a start on education and owning something of their own. Katie did as her mother told her but things became even harder when Katie became pregnant again. Neeley was born about a year after Francie and the family struggled with another mouth to feed. Francie remained very curious and ambitious. She loved to sit on the fire escape and look at the tree that grew in the yard and make believe it into different things. This tree was known as the tree of heaven because it grew in the most difficult conditions.
Johnny started to drink more because of stress which eventually led to his death. This is a major turning point in the story because Francie and Neeley loose their "innocence" and become adults at a young age. They graduate from eighth grade and start working to help support Katie and a new baby on the way. With more money coming in, life was easier for the remaining Nolans. Baby Laurie was born seven months after Johnny died and Francie continues to work and starts college classes the following summer. College is exciting because it is the most education that anyone in her family had ever recieved. Francie and Neeley are turning into strong adults and show this to Katie with their dislike for alcohol. The reader can see that the children will not be like their father and this relieves Katie. Francie continues to gorw up when she falls in love with a boy who was already engaged. Katie helps her get over the heartache the best that she can, showing that she still understands and longs for love as well. This comes out more when she agrees to marry Sargeant McShane make plans for him to adopt Laurie. Around the same time a boy Francie met at college during her first summer of school helps her pass college entrance exams. She is now ready for her second round of classes. He also gives her a promise ring. This represents a good future for Francie. The Nolans prepare to move in preparation of Katie's wedding. Francie takes one final walk around the neighborhood and sees how much things have changed. The one thing that hasn't changed was the tree in the old yard which still stood tall and strong.
There is always a struggle within the family considering money verses education. They were very poor but Katie understood that education would help them grow in life and be able to live better than she had. Katie also had a conflict about Johnny. She had loved him so much when they were young but later in the marriage he was just a drunk. There was no money because he barely worked and when he did get some money, it mostly went to alcohol. The author does sympathizes with him by showing how much he loved his family and how hard life was at the time. He cared about his family and wanted them to be as happy as possible. This was obvious when he did things like give the children a penny out of his scarce money or when we would sit and talk to Francie while she ironed his clothes. He also transferred Francie to a school that was less biased to make her happy. She looked up to him and had a special connection with Johnny. She understood that he was struggling which made it even harder for her when he started to drink and get sick in the months preceeding his death.
Poverty during this time was a big problem for the whole community. When the war began, prices of everyday items rose making it even harder for the poor. The Nolans had to go days without any food. Ameirca was in a very poor state. There were very vivid details about the town and how divided and poor and dirty it was. An example of this is when Francie and Neeley go to get ther vaccinations for school and the doctor and nurse make fun of how dirty her arm was. When Francie says something back to them they were shocked because they assumed that she couldn't understand them.Having no educationg was very common at the time. This gave the reader a very good sense of the era. This may be because the book was published not long after this time period. Betty Smith probably underwent some of these expiriences herself or had a family member that did.
All of these aspects are important but perhaps the main point in the whole story is depicted in the actual title A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The tree of heaven that Francie loved grew in any condition. At the beginning of the book, Francie is still young and hopeful sitting outside and entertaining herself with the tree. At the end of the story the tree was still there even though everything else has changed. The tree symbolizes the hardships that Francie went through but in the end she was still strong. She made it through her rough childhood and managed to recieve and education higher than most at the time. Despite not having much money or parents with expirience, she grew up to be a strong, independent, and smart young lady with a bright future just like the tree grew up big and strong.
Setting-
In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, the setting is a very important aspect of the story. The time and place help create the story through the hardships and anguish of the time in Brooklyn. The book is placed in early 20th century Brooklyn. Money was scarce for the average workers and jobs were hard to keep. Because the characters lived in Brooklyn, the setting affects the ordeals they had to experience. In the early 1900s, Brooklyn was full of poor people and run-down living spaces. The time affects the opportunities available to the Nolan family. this was the time when automobiles were fascinating to those who had never seen one. Horses were the obvious way to travel unless the streetcar was available.
As Francie, the oldest Nolan child, grows up, she finds comfort in the small tree outside of the apartment building she lives in. Each day the tree becomes something different in her imagination. It also symbolizes the struggle to survive poor in New York. The small insignificant tree grew where it shouldn't grow. The Nolan family lives a content life with their small worldly possessions in a state that has too many obstacles to count.
Later in the story, as Francie is walking around Brooklyn, she finds her dream school. This school is located in a rich neighborhood and it is what she has always wanted. Francie loves to learn and decides she must attend that school. Her new elementary school symbolyzes the greatness that is to come in this young one's future. In a way the author is foreshadowing Francie's future by giving her a wonderful place to learn away from the horror of the poor elementary school.
Another aspect of the setting is the bar where Johnny Nolan spends most of his time. The man of the family is just a part-time singing waiter squandering his money on booze. The bar is the reason this family falls lower in the poverty level. However, the bar becomes a savior for the fatherless family when the owner decides to give the two Nolan children after school jobs. The money they make helps the family survive just that much longer.
When Francie is old enough to go out and get a better job, she finds one in the city as a newspaper reader. This is the sign for bigger and better things to come for the Nolan family. The Big Apple is the scariest part of the journey to economic freedom. It is bustling with activity and Americans going to and from work all day. This is where Francie begins to grow as a woman, and she understands what it is like to struggle for a job.
The most symbolic part of the setting is college. Francie knew she had to make it to college because no one in her family had an education to advance past poverty. The college is her savior from becoming her mother. School in general was her long term goal to getting somewhere in the world. When her mother marries the sargeant, she finally has the chance to attend a nice college and maybe settle down with Ben, her boyfriend. The setting in this story helps develop the theme and plot. Without it, the story would lose half of its meaning.In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, the setting is the story.
Betty Smith- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Betty Smith is an American author who wrote A Tree Grown In Brooklyn. This book can be a very useful tool for understanding the way of life in the early twentieth century and the stuggle that many people had to go through to survive.
Katie Rommely and Johnny Nolan married young and had hopes of a good life. When Francie was born not long after the wedding, Johnny lost both his job and Katie's job. Katie's mother, Mary, told her to educate her children in order to give them a chance in the cruel world. She told Katie to make a tin bank and save enough money to buy a plot of land. Katie was also to read one page of Shakespeare and one page of the Bible to the child every night. Mary believed that this would give them an opprotunity that neither she or Katie had by giving them a start on education and owning something of their own. Katie did as her mother told her but things became even harder when Katie became pregnant again. Neeley was born about a year after Francie and the family struggled with another mouth to feed. Francie remained very curious and ambitious. She loved to sit on the fire escape and look at the tree that grew in the yard and make believe it into different things. This tree was known as the tree of heaven because it grew in the most difficult conditions.
Johnny started to drink more because of stress which eventually led to his death. This is a major turning point in the story because Francie and Neeley loose their "innocence" and become adults at a young age. They graduate from eighth grade and start working to help support Katie and a new baby on the way. With more money coming in, life was easier for the remaining Nolans. Baby Laurie was born seven months after Johnny died and Francie continues to work and starts college classes the following summer. College is exciting because it is the most education that anyone in her family had ever recieved. Francie and Neeley are turning into strong adults and show this to Katie with their dislike for alcohol. The reader can see that the children will not be like their father and this relieves Katie. Francie continues to gorw up when she falls in love with a boy who was already engaged. Katie helps her get over the heartache the best that she can, showing that she still understands and longs for love as well. This comes out more when she agrees to marry Sargeant McShane make plans for him to adopt Laurie. Around the same time a boy Francie met at college during her first summer of school helps her pass college entrance exams. She is now ready for her second round of classes. He also gives her a promise ring. This represents a good future for Francie. The Nolans prepare to move in preparation of Katie's wedding. Francie takes one final walk around the neighborhood and sees how much things have changed. The one thing that hasn't changed was the tree in the old yard which still stood tall and strong.
There is always a struggle within the family considering money verses education. They were very poor but Katie understood that education would help them grow in life and be able to live better than she had. Katie also had a conflict about Johnny. She had loved him so much when they were young but later in the marriage he was just a drunk. There was no money because he barely worked and when he did get some money, it mostly went to alcohol. The author does sympathizes with him by showing how much he loved his family and how hard life was at the time. He cared about his family and wanted them to be as happy as possible. This was obvious when he did things like give the children a penny out of his scarce money or when we would sit and talk to Francie while she ironed his clothes. He also transferred Francie to a school that was less biased to make her happy. She looked up to him and had a special connection with Johnny. She understood that he was struggling which made it even harder for her when he started to drink and get sick in the months preceeding his death.
Poverty during this time was a big problem for the whole community. When the war began, prices of everyday items rose making it even harder for the poor. The Nolans had to go days without any food. Ameirca was in a very poor state. There were very vivid details about the town and how divided and poor and dirty it was. An example of this is when Francie and Neeley go to get ther vaccinations for school and the doctor and nurse make fun of how dirty her arm was. When Francie says something back to them they were shocked because they assumed that she couldn't understand them.Having no educationg was very common at the time. This gave the reader a very good sense of the era. This may be because the book was published not long after this time period. Betty Smith probably underwent some of these expiriences herself or had a family member that did.
All of these aspects are important but perhaps the main point in the whole story is depicted in the actual title A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The tree of heaven that Francie loved grew in any condition. At the beginning of the book, Francie is still young and hopeful sitting outside and entertaining herself with the tree. At the end of the story the tree was still there even though everything else has changed. The tree symbolizes the hardships that Francie went through but in the end she was still strong. She made it through her rough childhood and managed to recieve and education higher than most at the time. Despite not having much money or parents with expirience, she grew up to be a strong, independent, and smart young lady with a bright future just like the tree grew up big and strong.
Setting-
In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, the setting is a very important aspect of the story. The time and place help create the story through the hardships and anguish of the time in Brooklyn. The book is placed in early 20th century Brooklyn. Money was scarce for the average workers and jobs were hard to keep. Because the characters lived in Brooklyn, the setting affects the ordeals they had to experience. In the early 1900s, Brooklyn was full of poor people and run-down living spaces. The time affects the opportunities available to the Nolan family. this was the time when automobiles were fascinating to those who had never seen one. Horses were the obvious way to travel unless the streetcar was available.
As Francie, the oldest Nolan child, grows up, she finds comfort in the small tree outside of the apartment building she lives in. Each day the tree becomes something different in her imagination. It also symbolizes the struggle to survive poor in New York. The small insignificant tree grew where it shouldn't grow. The Nolan family lives a content life with their small worldly possessions in a state that has too many obstacles to count.
Later in the story, as Francie is walking around Brooklyn, she finds her dream school. This school is located in a rich neighborhood and it is what she has always wanted. Francie loves to learn and decides she must attend that school. Her new elementary school symbolyzes the greatness that is to come in this young one's future. In a way the author is foreshadowing Francie's future by giving her a wonderful place to learn away from the horror of the poor elementary school.
Another aspect of the setting is the bar where Johnny Nolan spends most of his time. The man of the family is just a part-time singing waiter squandering his money on booze. The bar is the reason this family falls lower in the poverty level. However, the bar becomes a savior for the fatherless family when the owner decides to give the two Nolan children after school jobs. The money they make helps the family survive just that much longer.
When Francie is old enough to go out and get a better job, she finds one in the city as a newspaper reader. This is the sign for bigger and better things to come for the Nolan family. The Big Apple is the scariest part of the journey to economic freedom. It is bustling with activity and Americans going to and from work all day. This is where Francie begins to grow as a woman, and she understands what it is like to struggle for a job.
The most symbolic part of the setting is college. Francie knew she had to make it to college because no one in her family had an education to advance past poverty. The college is her savior from becoming her mother. School in general was her long term goal to getting somewhere in the world. When her mother marries the sargeant, she finally has the chance to attend a nice college and maybe settle down with Ben, her boyfriend. The setting in this story helps develop the theme and plot. Without it, the story would lose half of its meaning.In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, the setting is the story.
Character Analysis
Colette